Bob has very kindly allowed me to display the photo on this page, for which I am very grateful. If by
the time you follow the link, and find that the photo has already been sold, you are invited to view thumbnails of some of his many other
current offerings at:

Berlin, Sept. 24.
The international flying contests which begin next Sunday at
Johannisthal, near Kopenick outside of Berlin, promise to be successful.
The competitons are to be held under the direction of the German Aeronautic
association, the imperial aero club and the Imperial Automobile club. The
aerodrome is a vast semi-circle of eight hundred acres, bounded by forests.
The flying course is five hundred feet wide, 1.55 miles long and outlined
by tall masts.
The contests will continue for one week. The principal events are to be
distance and endurance races, a competition to reach the highest altitude,
and speed and weight-carrying races. The prizes range from $1,250 to $2,500.
The donor of the Michelin cup has consented that this year's contest for
the trophy be held here. The cup is worth $2,000 and with it goes a purse
of $4,000 to aeroplanist covering the greatest distance.
Among the aeroplanists who are to take part are Bleriot, Latham,Farman,Rougier,Fournier, Decater and Resa. Orville Wright has not announced his
decision to participate."
Bob Davis

French Odier-Vendome
On the back of the postcard there is written:
"74406 Fototipia Alterocca - Terni."
Terni is a town in Italy.Collection of Giovanni Giorgetti, 3-5-06

Built for Henri Rougier, the famous French Pilot, by the Vendome company in 1910. I don't know
what the title on your photo means, but I wonder if it is a pilot's name, rather than an aircraft make.
Attached is another photo of the same aircraft, this time flying at
Issy-les-Moulineux -- it says 1909, but my other sources say this plane
first flew in 1910, so I don't know.
Dave

Defense of French Airmen
Who it is Said Have not Done Conspicuous Service.
The Reverse is True for the Most Valuable Aid Has Been Rendered.
The Real Mission of the Aeroplane, However,
is That of Auxiliary to the Artillery. Knoxville Journal and Tribune,
Knoxville, Tennessee: November 10, 1914.Transcribed by Bob Davis - 3-18-07

Paris, Nov. 9. - Published reports that French aeroplanes are never seen above the French lines, while many hostile machines
reconnoiter over the heads of the French soldiers has brought forth a defense of the French aviation service.

To read the rest of this article, click on the title above.

Post Card - 1910
A card from Monaco dated 11/3/1910 sent to the U.K. referring to the aviatorCollection of Godfrey Bowden, 5-15-07
Member of the France and Colonies Philatelic Society)

ONLINE RESOURCES

Using the Google search engine on "Henri Rougier" +aviation", (4-6-07), you will find about 120 links. Many of them are very helpful.
The one immediately below has disappeared
from the net, but luckily I had preserved a relevant portion of it. The original document is written entirely in French. If you can read the
language, you will find it to be a treasure house of information. Even if you can't, and I can't, you will be able to understand the
relevant selection.

I used the BabelFish translation program to change it into English, more or less. The result is as
follows.

23 April 1910:Nice

"Competing on the California racecourse were thirteen aviators, almost all of them new to air meetings,
three on monoplanes and ten on biplanes. The meeting at Nice is a popular sporting vraie réussite. Residents of the côte d'azure,
including King Gustave V of Sweden who was on holiday, attended the spectacle which ravit them. Effimoff, the pilot of a Farman with
a Gnôme Oméga engine, flew 458 kilometers and Van den Born, in the same kind of plane, traveled 266 kilometers, including 87 of a
draft. Henri Rougier piloted a Voisin with a Gnôme Oméga engine ."

This webpage is just one of many on the
"Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines" website. As
stated in the introduction to the site,
"This site is dedicated to the history of aviation in Europe from the earliest powered flights to the
outbreak of the First World War. It is not in any real sense a history of the invention or development of the Aeroplane, but more a
celebration of the brave and colourful pre-war pioneers, who to an adoring public really were 'Magnificent Men'. Here you will find details
of some of their record breaking flights, competitions, races and of course the amazing aeroplanes they flew. There are other excellent
web sites dealing with the Wright brothers and their rivals and so this site just concentrates on the European scene."
To visit the page on which Rougier is mentioned, click on the title above. While on the site, you are
well advised to take advantage of the many other sections of this really outstanding resource..

This interesting website includes 25 brief biographies of aviators of the period, including
Henri Rougier, and their associated postcards. Full size images of the postcards were available in January,, 2003, but seem to have
disappeared. (8-31-03). To access the website, just click on the title above.

Although there is only a brief reference to the activities of Rougier, this article is important to anyone
wanting to understand the development of aviation in Italy. The following paragraph was extracted from the article so as to highlight the
many pioneer aviators who played a part in its history. It is amply illustrated with seven photographs. I think you will want to read the
whole article which details the history from 1909 to 2002."The beginning of the flying activity in Ghedi was in 1909 when in the moor on the border with
Montichiari was organized an airshow of international importance which saw the participation of airmen such as
Wright, Calderara, Cobianchi,Cagno, Rougier, Curtiss,
Moucher, Lebland, Anzani and Blériot, who won the "Brescia
Grand Prize" flying 50 Km. in 49.24" with a biplane aircraft, while Curtiss won the height race reaching 92 metres. Among the spectators
were numbered the Princess Letizia Savoy Bonaparte, Franz Kafka, who acted as foreign correspondent for a newspaper, and
Gabriele d'Annunzio, who flew as passenger on Wright's airplane and that would later make of aviation one of his greatest passions
(very famous remained his "Flight over Vienna")."
To access the site, just click on the title above.

OTHER HISTORIC AIRPORTS
via email from Don Fiore - 9-1-03

In addition to Ghedi, other very early but important Italian airfields included Centocelle (Rome) where
Wilbur Wright gave his first Italian demonstration), Gioa De Colle, &
Aviano
(still used today by the United States).

Henri Rougier died in Marseille in 1956Personal communication from Peter Higham, 6-14-05

Editor's Note:
If you have any information on this pioneer aviator
please contact me.
E-mail to Ralph Cooper